263 Best Sights in USA

The second-oldest marine-mammal center in the world doesn't attempt to compete with more modern, more expensive parks. Even so, it's among the better attractions north of Key West, especially if you have kids in tow. In addition to seeing marine-life exhibits and shows, you can make reservations for up-close-and-personal encounters like a swim with a dolphin or sea lion or stingray and turtle feedings (which include general admission). Stop for lunch at the grill, shop in the extensive gift shop, or sunbathe and swim at the private beach.

Consider a sail along the harbor and coast aboard the meticulously maintained 65-foot schooner Thomas E. Lannon, crafted in Essex in 1997 and modeled after the great vessels built a century before. Drinks and snacks are available for purchase. From mid-May through mid-October, the Ellis family offers two-hour sails, including trips that let you enjoy the sunset or music.

Directly across from Runamukka Reef is this shallow-water play area with kid-size slides, spraying fountains, singing whales, and a miniature water volcano. For people with disabilities Guests must be able to climb stairways unassisted or with help from someone in their party.

At 750 feet tall, here you can take a glass-elevator ride traveling at 800 feet per minute, straight up, a very intense 43 seconds. Once the symbol of HemisFair '68, the 1968 World's Fair in San Antonio, locals now just call it "The Tower." Three elevators can carry almost 2,000 passengers an hour. There are two observation decks, a café, a gift shop, a 4D movie theater, and the revolving Chart House, a steak-and-seafood restaurant at the top. One admission ticket covers the elevator ride, admission to the on-site 4D theater (a multisensory movie experience), and access to the Flags Over Texas Observation Deck.

At a pullout just north of Fairbanks you can see and touch the famous Trans-Alaska Pipeline. This 48-inch-diameter pipe travels 800 miles from the oil fields on the North Slope of the Brooks Range over three mountain ranges and over more than 500 rivers and streams to the terminal in Valdez. There the crude oil is pumped onto tanker ships and transported to oil refineries in the Lower 48 states. Since the pipeline began operations in 1977, more than 18 billion barrels of North Slope crude have been pumped. Currently the pipe is carrying about 450,000 barrels per day (less than a quarter of its peak figures from 1988).

Interactive, age-appropriate play areas for young children and a full menu of activities for older children and teens make the Treehouse Kids' Adventure Center in the Snowmass Base Village a good headquarters for family fun. Summer camp activities include mountain biking, skateboarding, and mountain boarding. When winter comes, the center serves as an upbeat base camp for ski lessons.

Kick back in this plush 60-seat auditorium as professors from the University of Alaska Anchorage add live commentary to Northern-focused science and education films, including several titles produced by the university itself in hard-to-reach Alaska destinations.

The giant mirrors used in the world's most advanced telescopes take about five years to create, and on this guided 90-minute tour you can view them in the different stages of the production process: glass melting, casting, grinding, and polishing. Reservations for the tours, offered weekdays for ages 10 and older, must be made in advance; closed-toe, flat shoes are a must.

An endless variety of wedding themes and add-on shtick is available, ranging from elegant to casual to camp. You can say your vows in the presence of Elvis, the Blues Brothers, or Liberace. Live webcams stream nuptials on the chapel's website in real time. Of the four chapels, one has a Doo-Wop Diner theme.

Priestess Miriam Chamani shares her traditional West African spiritual practices here, offering a more authentic experience than many of the tourist shops in the French Quarter. The priestess sells her own line of essential oils and voodoo dolls, as well as jewelry, sachets, incense, and books on voodoo, and is available to book for consultations and healings. Voodoo walking tours, like the New Orleans Spirit Tour ( www.neworleansspirittours.com), will often take visitors here.

The steepest tram in North America rises 3,700 feet in 15 minutes, rushing you up to the top of 8,150-foot Mt. Howard. Vistas of mountain peaks, forest, and Wallowa Lake far below will dazzle you, both on the way up and at the summit. Early and late in the season, 2½ miles of cross-country skiing trails await at the top, and the interpretive trails are open for hiking during the snowless months of midsummer, as are mountain-bike trails. A casual lunch is available at the Summit Grill, but keep in mind that it's more about the view than the sometimes uneven food and service.

This neon-and-incandescent sign in a median of Las Vegas Boulevard south of Mandalay Bay is one of Sin City's most enduring icons. The landmark dates back to 1959 and was approved for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. Young Electric Sign Company leases the sign to Clark County, but the design itself was never copyrighted and currently exists in the public domain. (This, of course, explains why you see so many likenesses all over town.) The parking lot in the median just south of the sign was expanded in 2015. If you prefer to go on foot, expect a 10-minute walk from Mandalay Bay, plus waiting time for photo ops.

A handful of benches and tables near drinking water, a covered kiosk, and restrooms make this a pleasant spot for lunch in the Wetherill area.

Directly behind this visitor center are four covered tables, where you can picnic simply and stay protected from the wind. There are also restroom facilities.

In eastern Arizona, at the Wigwam Motel—where the basic rooms are inside 30-foot-tall wood-and-concrete tepees—you'll see a vast collection of classic cars, from a '59 Chevy Impala to a '51 Studebaker Land Cruiser in the parking lot.

On the edge of a prairie and grove of ponderosa, this is a peaceful, pretty place ¼ mile from the visitor center. Small and simple, it's equipped with 12 tables and a potable-water pump.

At a major trailhead to the backcountry, this is a great place to stop for lunch before a hike. The area sits in a mixed-conifer forest adjacent to parking. Drinking water, grills, and restrooms are available.

Each October, Front Street is transformed into a popular event where craftsmen showcase their works in the wooden boat exhibits. There's an intense boatbuilding competition (finished off by a rowing race on the river), kids' model-building contest, live music, and arts and crafts. All proceeds from the show are donated to the Harbor Historical Association's maritime museum.

Situated in South Philly's Sports Complex, Xfinity Live! serves as overflow for games and a gathering place for fans who want to drink and hang out rather than sit in seats. The huge complex has more than a dozen dining areas, plus a beer hall, artificial turf field, and outdoor seating. Tailgating is common here, as are special events themed around major concerts. Check their website for upcoming experiences, and note that some events require tickets in advance.

Drop by the Yellowstone River Trout Hatchery, a five-minute drive from the town center, to view and learn about cutthroat trout. The best time to visit the hatchery is in spring, when you can see the fingerlings.

This one-of-a-kind education center focuses on a sprawling 1½-acre model of the entire San Francisco Bay and Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta system, complete with flowing water. Now open for public exploration, the model has been used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reproduce the rise and fall of tides, the flow of currents, and the other physical forces at work on the bay.

The enormous, sandstone courthouse seems exceptionally grand for such a small town, but it was entirely appropriate at the time it was built, between 1909 and 1912, when Montesano was a prosperous railroad boomtown. Its clock tower soars above the classical, pillared entrance. The lobby has a marble staircase flanked by murals depicting Robert Gray in 1792, discovering the harbor that bears his name, and Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiating with Native Americans at Cosmopolis in 1855. The murals inaccurately depict native people wearing feather headdresses and standing in front of tepees (neither was used by the local Chehalis). Information packets for self-guided tours around town are available in the room to the right of the Commissioner's Office.

Walk through the kitchen door off the garden—which contains old varieties of roses, peonies, and lilacs—and step into a different era. One of Washington's smallest state parks, operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, offers a look into what life was like on the bluff overlooking the bay during the late 1800s. Built for a mercantile store owner and his family, the Greek Revival–style home remains largely unchanged since it was completed in 1868.